Have you ever been at a meeting about a community issue and heard the statement, “We don’t need some outsider coming in and telling us what to do”? I know I have. This phrase points to a common challenge I see when working in rural communities—balancing the value of community input with expert knowledge in [...]Read More »

Dear Placemakers; Almost four decades ago, we created the Project for Public Spaces to expand the work of the great urbanologist and observer of public spaces, Holly Whyte. The way that public spaces were being conceived and designed then was disconnected from the reality of how people used them, yet there was surprisingly little resistance. [...]Read More »

Since the Project for Public Spaces was founded in 1975,we have worked in thousands of communities around the world to help people shape their public spaces to create great Places, where locals feel a sense of ownership, and visitors don’t want to leave. Still, for as much fun as we’ve had, something feels different lately. [...]Read More »

Hot on the heels of last week’s announcement of our participation in the Orton Family Foundation’s new CommunityMatters Partnership, we are thrilled to share with you the first projects that PPS will be taking on as part of that initiative. Beginning July 1, 2012, PPS will be partnering with CommunityMatters, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the US Department of [...]Read More »

The Orton Family Foundation, over the last few years, has masterfully coalesced several national organizations all working on key pieces of what a shift in civic infrastructure needs to look like for stronger community-based planning. After some great convenings hosted by the Orton Foundation and The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, we are proud to help launch CommunityMatters®. This national innovation-action network [...]Read More »